S'sK Fluffy Garlic and Mozzarella Cheese Bread Knots

*A Sebastian’s Kitchen Original Recipe

S'sK Fluffy Garlic and Mozzarella Cheese Bread Knots

Ingredients:
2 cups warm water
3 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 teaspoons salt
5 1/2 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons cornmeal
3 tablespoons butter, melted

2 tablespoons spice world – chopped garlic – or fresh garlic
Shredded mozzarella cheese to sprinkle on top of bread knots

Bonus items:
Parchment paper

1.    Add cold water into microwave safe bowl. (I use a glass microwave safe Pyrex measuring cup). Microwave water for about 1 minute until warm. Add water to a large bowl. (Water should be warmer than lukewarm, but not hot enough to slightly burn you.)

2.    Add yeast and sugar to water and stir with a fork to dissolve.

3.    Cover yeast bowl with plastic wrap and let yeast bowl sit in a nested bowl or Tupperware container with hot water.
    a.    To make a nested bowl with hot water:
          i.      I use a large Tupperware container and fill it about half way up with hot water.
          ii.      Nest the yeast bowl in the Tupperware container.
          iii.      Water should be hot, but not hot enough to burn you.
          iv.      (Remove yeast bowl from nested bath when kneading)

  b.    Let yeast sit in nested bath for 10 minutes. You will notice that your yeast water has become very thick, bubbly, and frothy. This is perfect. Remove bowl from nested bath and remove plastic wrap top.

  c.    If your bowl is not frothy, try again. There are many factors that could affect this. Most likely your yeast died or was not fresh to begin with.

4.    Add salt into bowl. Whisk with fork until well mixed.

5.    Add bread flour slowly. Mix with fork until difficult to mix. Knead dough with hands for a couple minutes until dough has absorbed all flour.
   a.    The dough should be slightly sticky to the touch, not dried out, or too wet.

6.    Cover bowl with plastic wrap.
7.    Let sit on counter in a nested bowl with hot water (just like before) for 1 hour.

8.    Check on water in nested bowl after 1 hour. It will probably be cold.
9.    Remove dough bowl from nested bowl.
10.    Knead dough for 2 minutes and cover bowl with plastic wrap.
11.    Refill water bowl with hot water and nest bowls again.
12.    Let rise for 1 more hour.
13.    Remove dough bowl from nested bowl.
14.    Empty water bowl.
15.    Remove plastic wrap from bowl.
16.    Start separating dough into 12-14 small balls.
17.    Line 1 baking sheet with parchment paper.
18.    Start preheating oven to 350 degrees F.
19.    Grab a cutting board and spread corn meal on it.

20.    Put dough balls on cutting board.

21.    Roll dough into long ropes.
22.   Tie each rope into a knot.

23.    Roll bottom of knot in corn meal.
24.    Place corn meal’d knotted dough on parchment paper.
25.    Once oven is preheated, set baking sheets in the oven.
26.    Round 1 of baking - bake knots for 10 minutes.
27.    At the 8 minute mark, start making the garlic and butter sauce.

    a.    In a microwave safe bowl, melt butter until just barely melted, (do not let it bubble/boil in the microwave).
    b.    Measure out your garlic and add it to your butter bowl and stir well.

28.    Once the first round of baking the bread knots are up, remove the bread from the oven and brush top of bread with garlic butter.  

    a.    I use a silicon cooking brush to spread the butter garlic mixture on. It works really well.

29.    Top with a thin layer of shredded mozzarella cheese.

30.    Continue baking for 10 – 20 minutes or until done baking. (Oven times will vary depending on your oven and on how thick you made your knots).
    a.    Bread will be done when it is firm and slightly golden.

31.    Remove bread from oven and turn off oven when bread is done baking.
32.    Store leftover bread in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

S'sK Peanut Butter Oatmeal Crater Cookies with Nutella Dark Chocolate Filling

*A Sebastian's Kitchen Original Recipe

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Crater Cookies with Nutella Dark Chocolate Filling

Ingredients:

Wet bowl:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter (salted butter) softened to room temperature

1 ½ cups brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 ½ cups creamy natural peanut butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Dry bowl:

1 cup King Arthur Flour Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

2 cups old fashioned Quaker oats

Nutella Filling:

5 oz Ghirardelli 60% cacao baking chips (dark chocolate) (1/2 of a 10 oz bag)

½ cup Nutella

Step 1: Wet bowl

1.    Add butter to large bowl and beat it with a mixer until white and creamy about 2 minutes.

2.    Add brown sugar and white sugar to bowl and continue beating.

3.    Add eggs and continue beating.

4.    Add peanut butter and vanilla extract and beat until well incorporated.

5.    Set bowl aside.

Step 2: Dry bowl

1.    In a medium bowl add: whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and Quaker oats and mix with a fork or whisk.

Step 3: Putting it together

1.    Pour dry bowl contents into wet bowl half at a time and stir well with fork until well incorporated.

Step 4: Prep baking sheet, shape cookies, and bake

1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.    Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

3.    Put about 3-4 tablespoons worth of cookie batter on parchment paper.

4.    Flatten dough with your hand.

5.    Place your crater tool in the center of the cookie and squish your cookie dough up towards your tool creating a crater.

6.    Remove crater tool and pinch crater sides to make it look neater.

7.    Repeat steps 3 through 6 until all cookies are craters.

8.    Bake for 7-12 minutes or until cookie is done. Bottom should be slightly golden, the top may look a little under-cooked, but check the bottom of the cookie if you are unsure. Time varies a lot here based on how thick and how tall you made your crater cookies.

9.    Remove pan from oven and let cookies rest for 5-10 minutes then move to cooling rack.

10.    Once cookies have cooled, you can start to make your Nutella filling.

Step 5: Nutella Filling

1.    Melt Ghirardelli chocolate according to package instructions. Place it in a medium sized bowl.

    a.    I microwave mine in 20-30 second intervals stirring between each microwave session until melted.

2.    While chocolate is melting, measure out your Nutella and add it to your chocolate bowl once it is melted.

3.    Stir Nutella and chocolate mixture with a fork or a whisk until well incorporated.

4.    Using a large spoon or ice cream scooper, scoop Nutella filling in crater of each cookie.

5.    Let cookies sit at room temperature for 10 minutes, then transfer to the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour until chocolate filling is firm.

6.    Store most of the cookies in the refrigerator in an air-tight container. If you are going to be eating them all soon, you can leave them all in an air-tight container at room temperature. I usually store most of my cookies in an air-tight container in the refrigerator and then get a few cookies out for the day and let those sit at room temperature in an air-tight container.

S'sK Minestrone Soup

*A Sebastian's Kitchen Original Recipe

S'sK Minestrone Soup

Ingredients:

1 cup kidney beans uncooked (to be cooked separately)

12 cups water

1 teaspoon veggie bouillon jelly or 1 bouillon cube

1 bunch collard greens

1 bunch celery

2 leeks

3 medium fresh organic tomatoes diced

1 large can organic diced tomatoes

8 oz. small pasta

dried oregano to taste

dried basil to taste

salt to taste

pepper to taste

Shredded mozzarella cheese for topping on soup

Step 1: Cook kidney beans in a separate medium pot (approx. time 1 hour to 1 ½ hours)

1. Cook kidney beans according to instructions on product bag.

2. When beans are tender, strain from pot and rinse under cold water.

3. Store beans in an airtight container in the refrigerator until recipe calls for beans to be added to soup.

4. Need more bean cooking help? Check out my how to boil kidney beans post here.

Step 2: Veggie prep
1. Wash collard greens.
    a. Cut off large center stems/veins of collard greens.

    b. Chop collard greens leaves. Set aside.
2. Wash and cut celery and leeks. Set aside.
3. Wash and dice fresh tomatoes. Set aside.

Step 3: Soup

1. Turn stovetop to medium-high heat.
2. Add all the water to a large pot.
3. Add veggie bouillon jelly or cube to water and stir well.
4. Add collard greens, celery, and leeks to water. Stir frequently.
5. When water begins to boil, lower heat to medium and simmer for 30 minutes stirring frequently.

6. Add freshly diced tomatoes and canned tomatoes and continue stirring occasionally.
    a. Simmer for an additional 10 minutes.

7. Add pre-cooked kidney beans to pot.
8. Add oregano, basil, salt, and pepper to taste.
9. Soup should start smelling and looking done. All veggies should be soft by now. Calculate how long the soup still has to cook, when you have about 10 minutes left, add the pasta.
10. Add small pasta to soup and continue to boil until pasta is cooked. Stirring frequently to prevent pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
11. Once pasta is cooked, soup is done and ready to serve.

12. Pour soup into serving dish and top with shredded mozzarella cheese.